Samhain
by Flaming Tigress Mage
Summary: There's more than one version of Halloween...and Bakura really isn't having that good a day...(One-shot)


**I originally had something else entirely planned for this, but after a while, I realized that it just...wasn't real. I hope you enjoy this.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! I don't even own Haku. (sigh)**

_

* * *

__Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep._

Ryo yawned, rubbing his eyes. It seemed much too early to get up. The reason why was discovered as he glanced at the clock.

"Very _funny_, Bakura," he muttered, glaring at the alarm that had been set an hour early. He attempted to go back to bed, but after five minutes, he realized it was useless, and swung his feet out of bed—

To find out that Bakura had conveniently placed a tub of warm milk right next to the bed. Ryo trudged off to the bathroom, opened the door, and stepped back. Nothing happened. Cautiously, he stepped inside, when he felt something brush against his ankle. Looking down and seeing the wire, he managed "Why me?" before the bucket of cold water fell onto his head.

"With hair dye? That's a new one," he commented, stepping into the shower.

There was a small feeling of satisfaction radiating from Bakura's soul room.

* * *

Ryo emerged from his shower feeling refreshed. Grabbing a broom from the hallway closet, he pushed open the kitchen door with the broom handle, thereby eliminating the jam jar set to throw in his face, and then used it to jump over the hole in the middle of the floor. "We're elaborate today, aren't we?" he asked aloud. "I wonder why." He pulled out a bowl from a cupboard, and retrieved the cereal from the middle of the mousetraps. Sidestepping the refrigerator before opening it, he avoided most of the ice cubes that came pouring out, then took out the milk. Making his way through the nettles that lined the floor, he took a seat and began eating. He lazily glanced at the calendar, before resuming eating. Suddenly, he did a double take.

October thirty-first.

It was Halloween.

Ryo's father, being an archeologist, celebrated some of the ancient holidays. When he was at home, he taught Ryo about them. Samhain had quickly become one of Ryo's favorite holidays.

He had forgotten about it, with Bakura there. Slightly cursing, he started to get ready to go out, when he realized. It was _Halloween_, king of getting parents to buy candy for their children, only to give it out again that night. There would be _nothing_ that he could buy left, and even if there was something, he'd never make it through the mile-long shopping lines of last-minute shoppers.

"This is all your fault, Bakura, and I hope you're happy." Ryo was thankful for the fact that it was, at least, a Sunday, so he wouldn't have to go to school. Noticing the blinking light, he meandered over to the message machine by the phone, and pressed play.

_Beep._

"Hi, Ryo! This is Tea. Don't forget: you promised to come over and help Yugi get his house ready for his Halloween party at ten this morning, so don't be late: we really need you! Thanks!"

_Beep._

"Darn it, I forgot about that!" Ryo yelled, grabbing his bowl and tossing it into the sink. Suddenly, another message started up.

_Beep._

"Hello. This is Marik. Don't forget, Bakura, you promised to come over and help me plan world domination at ten this morning. And you had better come, because by Ra, evil side or no, if you don't show up, you'll wish you had stayed in the Shadow Realm when I'm done with you...wait a minute...(muffled) What? Yes, Ishizu. (louder) Bring a hammer, will you? Odion's just fell down the drainpipe, and he can't get it out. Thanks!"

_Beep._

"End of messages," the answering machine chirped out.

"Curse you, Bakura," Ryo muttered. He picked up the phone and started to dial. "Hello, Tea? I have a bit of a scheduling conflict—" He held the phone away from his ear as Tea yelled out, "_What do you mean, a scheduling conflict? We've been up all night working on this, and you had a minimal job, and you can't do it?_"

"It's my other," Ryo hastily explained. "He made an arrangement with Marik, and—"

"_Then I'll go over to Marik's house and wring his neck my own fu—_Hello, Ryo. Sorry about that. Tea pulled an all-nighter to get this working. Can you...erm...schedule the meeting for later, or something?"

"I'll try, Yugi. I'll see you at ten, hopefully."

"All right. Bye!"

"Goodbye." Ryo hung up the phone and begun to dial again. "Um...hello, this is Ryo Bakura."

"One minute. (muffled) Master Marik! Ryo Bakura is on the phone! No worries, they won't lose in the three minutes you're away from the television! (to phone) Here he is. (click) Hello?"

"Um...Bakura won't be able to make it at ten today."

"He won't?"

"No, I'm afraid not."

"I understand."

"Really?"

"—_that he's a sniveling coward who doesn't want to perform the blood sacrifice! That's it, isn't it! You just tell that son-of-Set that if he doesn't make it here, I'll stuff his intestines down his—ow! Ow!_ (muffled) Blood sacrifices in _this_ household, Marik Ishtar?"

"Um...are you still there, Marik? Because if that's you, those noises are really disturbing."

"(long pause, in which screams and other blood-curling noises are heard) Ryo? Marik won't be able to have anybody over today. Sorry about that."

"It's all right, Ishizu," Ryo said nervously. "That's fine by me."

"Good, because we have some family problems to work—_get that bloody hand off the phone cord right now, or I'll cut it up and feed it to you, you—_"

Ryo hastily hung up before he could hear anything else. Grabbing his coat from the booby-trapped coat rack, he walked out the door.

* * *

It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, the grass was green, and as Ryo Bakura trudged up the path to Yugi's house, there was only one thought in his head:

_Nothing good could possibly happen today_.

Well, that wasn't _strictly_ true. There was the Halloween party that he was going to help set up now. There was also the fact that it was Samhain, the best holiday there was. Yet, with his other half, Bakura, even _existing_, there was no hope that anything would work out well. Walking up the path, Ryo, seeing Yugi and Tea, waved.

From the porch, Yugi turned to Tea, and said, "He's here on time, Tea. You can put away the knife now."

Tea innocently slipped the knife into a nearby bush. "Hi, Ryo!"

"Hello, Tea, Yugi," Ryo nodded. "Shall we get started?"

"C'mon in."

* * *

"That's it?"

"That's it."

"So...Tea nearly killed me and you needed me here to pour the _punch_?"

"It's a very important job," Tea said. "If there's no punch, people won't want to come."

"Why didn't you have Tristan or Joey come over, then?"

"Just think about who you just said again."

"I see your point."

"Besides, they're busy pouring the lemonade."

Ryo raised one eyebrow, and said, "Well, I'll be off then. See you at the party tonight."

"Bye, Ryo!"

Ryo walked out the door, when...

_Slam!_

"It's you, it's you, it's really you!"

"What the...?"

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Hanasaki Tomoya (1). And you're Bakura Ryo, correct?"

"That's right. How the heck did you—"

"We superheroes need to stick together!"

"We _what_?"

"Oh, come on! I know you don't want to reveal yourself to the world, but I saw you beating up that thief the other night!"

Ryo stared at the blond-haired kid. "What thief?"

Hanasaki snorted. "Don't tell me you don't remember! Wait, maybe you don't because you beat up evildoers every night!"

"Riiiiight. Refresh my memory, will you?"

"This big guy was coming after you, and you were running, but I knew that you were trying to lead him away from where your powers could be revealed! I was going to come in and help, when all of the sudden, you turn around and pull this Duel Monsters card out of your pocket and he collapses!"

_So _that's_ what happened,_ Ryo thought. _Bakura, you do know that if you hadn't stolen his money and hid it in _my_ backpack, he wouldn't have come after me?_

_He was a threat, and threats must be eliminated,_ Bakura thought back. _You may be a pathetic host, but you are _my_ host, and I will let nobody threaten you!_

_...Or you liked the sound he made when he was going to the Shadow Realm._

_Oh, come on, even _you_ have to admit that the gurgling he made while his guts were being turned inside out was _awesome

Ryo squatted down to face Hanasaki. "Look, please don't tell anybody about this."

"I'd never rat out a fellow superhero!" Hanasaki promised.

"Sure. Well, I hate to leave you like this, but your mother's probably missing you right now, and kids shouldn't be out on their own."

"What are you talking about?" Hanasaki asked, confused. "I'm in your English class!"

"...You go to Domino High."

"Uh-huh!"

"...Well, uh, then I'll see you in class tomorrow. Bye!"

"Wait! Let me patrol the streets with you!"

"_What?_"

"Let me patrol the streets with you! You're off to patrol, right? Any superhero would be doing so now!"

"...You know, I'm actually not who you think I am..."

"Of course! You're Bakura Ryo, secretly a superhero in disguise!"

"Whatever you mean by _patrol_, I'm not doing it."

"Yes, you are! Oh, wait!" Hanasaki looked around. "You don't want any civilians to know what you're doing!"

"...Fine, I'll play along. You know what, I don't want any civilians to see what I'm doing. I don't want anybody to see what I'm doing, period. I'll be going home now, to put on my...superhero costume, or whatever. Don't look for me, okay?"

"No worries!" Hanasaki waved. "Bye!"

"...Uh, goodbye!" Ryo turned and ran.

_Turn around! Turn around! Let me maul him!_ Bakura pleaded.

_NO!_ Ryo didn't stop running until he reached his house. He locked his door, and breathed heavily. He absently reached down, and petted the cat that had just come over, twining around his legs. "Hey, kitty, are you hungry?" he murmured. "I'll go out and get some food for you in a bit."

_We should kill that cat and dissect it._

_Shut up, Bakura. I thought you _liked_ the cat._

_I _do_ like the cat. If we perform the proper rites before killing it, its soul will go straight to Basset, and it will be eternally happy in the afterlife._

_We are killing _no_ cats in this household._

_Then go out and get some food for it. I can't let such a great attack cat like little Haku go to waste._

_Which is what I was just about to do?_

_Go. Now. Buy some knives, too, while you're at it._

"I'm going already," Ryo muttered under his breath. He hung his jacket up, went up to grab his sweater, and walked out the back door—

Straight into Hanasaki.

"Are you stalking me, or something?" Ryo demanded of him.

"It's my duty to know where other superheroes live in case I come up against an enemy that I can't handle!" Hanasaki proclaimed.

"...Stay _away_ from my house."

"Why?"

_May I maul him now?_

_No._

* * *

"At least stop following me around."

"Perhaps we _should_ patrol different areas," Hanasaki said thoughtfully. "But it's safer to stay together."

_Samhain rolls around, and I'm stuck with _two_ insane people._

_I'm not insane. I'm just mental._

"Why don't you...patrol around your house, while I take the pet shop."

"All right, we'll meet up at noon to patrol together again! Until then, farewell!" Hanasaki ran off.

_Dear lord, thank you._

_You should have let me maul him a _long_ time ago._

Ryo walked into the pet store. "I need some cat food."

"Sorry, we're all out. This guy ordered all the cat food we have."

_Uh-oh,_ Ryo thought as he was forcibly thrown into his soul room.

* * *

"Ugh...what happened here?"

_I persuaded him to get me some cat food._

"What _is_ that stuff on the ceiling?"

_You don't want to know._

"Where's the cat food?"

_Already fed the cat._

"Why is there blood all over the store?"

_Let me show you a mental picture._

"..._Ew!_"

_Haku drew blood. Isn't that cute?_

"...I think I'm going to be sick."

_Don't do it in the bathroom. I haven't gotten the guts cleaned up yet._

"(bleaugh)"

..._You know what? I'm hungry._

"Ugh...how can you even _think_ of eating?"

_Go get some food. You'll feel better._

Ryo stumbled out of the pet store.

"Wow!" Hanasaki yelled, running up. "I didn't see anybody on _my_ patrol, but it's obvious that you took on a gang of thugs!"

"...You again?"

_On second thought, we have enough time to maul somebody before eating._

_NO._

"Come on, let's go eat!"

"...Like this?"

"You're right, you should probably clean up first. You don't want anybody knowing that you're a superhero!"

"...Whatever excuse fits your mind, it sounds good to me." Ryo stumbled in the direction of his house, Hanasaki following close behind.

Passing by the Domino Museum, Ryo noticed a girl coming out of the door, with a firm grip on Yugi's arm.

_What the heck is Yugi doing with that girl?_

_Who cares. Let's maul Atemu!_

"Hi, Yugi!" Hanasaki waved.

"You know him, too?"

"Yeah! He once helped me out defeating a gang of evil bandits!"

"Sure he did."

Yugi stumbled over to him, the blond-haired girl clinging to his arm. "Hi, guys. I'd love to stay and chat, but I'm sort of preoccupied with getting Rebecca off my arm."

"Do you need help?" Ryo asked, concerned.

"Nah, she'll run as soon as I get over to Tea," Yugi replied. "Either that, or one or both of them are going to the emergency room."

"Oh, Yugi, you're so funny!" Rebecca proclaimed, an iron grip on his arm.

"Hey, look! Tea!" Yugi yelled. Rebecca jumped, and Yugi took the opportunity to bolt.

"Where? I don't see her—Yugi! Yugi! Where are you?"

"Pardon me, miss, but may I help you?" Hanasaki asked. Rebecca looked up. "Hm...about the same age, about the same height, blond hair...yes, you could help me! What's your name?"

"Uh...it's Hanasaki Tomoya."

"I'll just leave you two, then," Ryo said, backing away.

"Is there a reason why you're grabbing my arm?"

"I'm Rebecca Hopkins! Let's go get lunch."

_Thank you, lord._

_If you had let me maul them, none of this would have been your problem._

* * *

"Hey, Haku," Ryo murmured. "Who's the cutest cat ever?"

Haku mewed innocently.

_Hey, Haku. Who's the best attack cat in the world?_

_Please, Bakura. We don't want the cat getting ideas._

I_ personally thought the time it used your leg as a scratching post was pretty funny._

"C'mon, Haku, let's go get the mail," Ryo said, picking Haku up. He sorted through the mail. "Death threat...death threat...advertisement...death threat...bill...what's this?" Ryo picked up a brown paper package. "It's from dad!" He brought the package over to the living room, and sat down in a reclining chair.

Tearing open the box, he found a letter. _Dear Ryo. How are you? Happy Samhain. I know you don't like to go out much, but for this night, be a guiser. Knowing you, you've been working on your homework too much to get anything for Samhain, so I've included turnips as well as a guising outfit for you._

_I'm going to England in a couple of weeks. If you want to leave a letter for Amane, I'll be happy to leave it on her...for you. Just send it to my apartment in Egypt, I'm there currently._

_I love you, son  
__Your father_

Ryo held the letter for a minute, then carefully folded it and put it to the side. He took out the grinning turnips and placed them on a nearby end table, all without getting up. Finally, he unfolded the length of black cloth.

There was a pair of black jeans and a long-sleeved black shirt. But the most magnificent item was the long, flowing cape. At first glance, it appeared to be completely black, but when Ryo took a closer look, he saw that it was a mix of cleverly interwoven patches of dark red, dark green, and dark blue.

_That's a nice cape,_ Bakura admitted. _This alone puts your dad off of any death lists I might have had him on._

_I should probably try this on._

_Do so. But don't make any sudden movements. Haku went to sleep on your head._

Smiling, Ryo softly took the cat down, then gathered up the costume and went to put it on.

* * *

"Who are you?" Yugi asked the black-robed figure. It removed the hood. "Hi, Ryo! That's a really nice cape."

"Thank you, Yugi." Ryo entered. "Is the party going well?"

"So far. Will you do me a favor?"

"Name it."

"If you see Joey or Tristan around, don't tell them that the food is in the kitchen. I want some left for everyone else to eat."

"Done." Ryo nervously entered the party. _Relax and enjoy yourself,_ he told himself.

I_ could always spice up the party._

_Oh, no, you don't._ Ryo moved off to his standard corner, then noticed there was somebody already there.

"Are you sure that the minions of darkness are here?"

"They can only be fought if you close your eyes and open your mouth."

_No going there._

_For once, agreed._

"Hey, Ryo!" Ryo turned around. "Hello, Tea. You make a rather convincing angel."

Tea blushed. "Thanks. I worked forever on this outfit. That's a really nice cape, by the way."

"So I've been told."

"What are you?" Ryo inwardly panicked. What was he supposed to be?

"I'm...um..."

_Foolish mortal._ "I'm a tomb robber," his mouth said.

..._When we get home, you are dead, Bakura._

_Unfortunately for you, you can't kill me._

* * *

"That was the longest party of my life," Ryo moaned, dragging himself into his house.

_Are you embarrassed that your existence was acknowledged when you won the best costume contest?_

"That, too."

_Go to sleep, Ryo._ Ryo, unresisting, headed up to bed. The last thing he heard was Bakura thinking, _Now, what will I do to him tomorrow?_

_

* * *

He heard trains. That was ridiculous, because there were no trains anywhere near his house. Yet, he still heard them. They were an eerie sound, the sound of a train whistle in a cracked chord._

"_Where is it coming from?" he wondered. He decided to walk along to find out. Pretty soon, he came to a station. He stood there, wondering, as a train pulled in. The conductor stepped off, and asked him, "Are you coming aboard?"_

"_All right," he answered, and started to walk forwards._

"_Stop." The voice carried a note of authority, and Ryo turned. He gasped. "Amane! But...you're dead."_

_Amane smiled at him. "You still have a long life to live, Ryo. You're not getting on this time." She walked past him, and boarded._

"_Amane!" The train began to pull out of the station. Amane smiled. "Remember me, brother."_

"_Goodbye...Amane..." he whispered, tears running down his face. The conductor asked him, "Are you sure you don't want to get on?"_

"_No." Ryo turned around to see Bakura. "He has his own life." Bakura grinned evilly. "Besides, he has to get up for school."_

_Ryo groaned, but he knew that whatever happened, he'd be able to deal with it in the morning. At least, if Bakura hadn't..._

_"Hey, Bakura."_

_"Yeah?"_

_"The house is still intact, right?"_

_"Intact, inshmact."_

_"...Yeah, I thought so."_

* * *

Yeah, ending was so fluffy, I gagged on it, too.  
Read and review!

(1) Hanasaki Tomoya is from Yu-Gi-Oh! Volume three.


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